Actor Resigns University Job Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

Actor Jo Min-ki has resigned from a teaching post at Cheongju University after allegedly being disciplined for sexually harassing students, it emerged Tuesday.

Cheongju University said Tuesday that it carried out an internal investigation after receiving a tip-off at the end of November last year.

A disciplinary committee was convened that suspended Jo for three months. "We checked the allegations from the whistleblower, who is thought to be a graduate of the university, and confirmed that some of them were true," the university's public relations department said. "We cannot disclose further details as that would only lead to further damage to the victims."

Jo Min-ki

Jo denies the allegations. "I did not sexually harass anyone," he said in a statement. "These are false accusations and malicious rumors from other professors. I tendered my resignation out of moral responsibility, but it is not true that I was suspended for sexual harassment."

He says he was suspended for using inappropriate language in class.

The allegations became public in a social media post early Tuesday morning. The post read, Jo "has sexually harassed female students for many years. It's weird that there is no media coverage of this when he was relieved of his post due to the allegations." The post was later deleted.

Police said they are checking the facts and will start an investigation if they prove accurate.

Jo was hired as an assistant professor at his alma mater in March 2010. He made his movie debut in 1991 and has appeared in numerous films and TV dramas since then.